Disadvantages for Students in a BYOD Classroom
Gary Stager is the director of the Constructing Modern Knowledge Institute. His belief is “BYOD is a bad policy that constrains student creativity, limits learning opportunities, and leads to less support for public education in the future” (Lamaster & Stager, 2013, p.1). Stager believes that BYOD creates inequality in the classroom because affluent students will gain an unfair advantage over their classmates with their personal devices. Stager argues that Bring Your Own Devices are so much less powerful than desktop and laptop computers. Students are wasting time on them when they can be engaging with better hardware and software that is geared for education (Lamaster &Stager, 2012). Another disadvantage to BYOD are the distractions that can be created if students use their devices to access inappropriate material without teacher knowledge. Educators have to constantly monitor to make sure students to do not bring inappropriate images, videos, and texts into school. Also, students can download material and apps that could be used to cheat in class (Pfoutz, 2012). Disadvantages for Educators in a BYOD Classroom
Stager (2013) believes that BYOD increases the anxiety of teachers in their responsibility to monitor students with all different devices. Educators often are not provided adequate professional development for how to implement BYOD. In schools that provide devices for students like iPads, many teachers have no training, but their own personal experience with the device that was just recently given to them. Personal experience with an iPad will not lead to expertise in a work. Research has shown that educators tend to use new technologies to fit into their existing lessons. If educators are not given time to collaborate and learn the benefits of devices, then how can they be expected to use these devices effectively. The devices can differentiate instruction for students, and there are a wide range of apps and web tools that are available for teachers. Unfortunately, without time they may not know of their existence. Educators also need to be given instructions on how devices can be used in the class. Teachers need to know the guidelines that exist for students sharing material through devices, collecting work done on a device, and grading procedures. This can be complicated and time consuming (Daccord, 2012). Educators that plan lessons around BYOD may face many challenges in their lesson. Teachers may have to deal with students forgetting to charge their device, troubleshooting technical problems, and students bringing devices that pose a threat to the overall network (Kartson, 2012). Disadvantages for School Districts
In an article by David Raths (2012) he researched the impact of Bring Your Own Device movement on school districts in the United States. For his research he interviewed technology coordinators, faculty and staff to determine what the keys to BYOD readiness are. His research took him to Hanover school district in Pennsylvania, Jordan school district in Utah, Park Hill school district in Missouri, and an Episcopal Academy in Florida. In each district Raths wanted to determine how BYOD was implemented and what the results were. Each district had problems and difficulties when first adopting a BYOD policy.
Hanover school district had established wireless access points for laptops in their schools five years before BYOD. When BYOD was implemented into the school district, they quickly realized that they would have to add more access points. The district decided to establish two separate networks one for BYOD wireless devices and one for school devices. The downside is students cannot use their own device to print material since they are not connected to school hardware. In the Jordan School district in Utah, they encountered early problems with BYOD because each school in their 50,000 student district was responsible for establishing their own wireless infrastructure. When BYOD was implemented new wireless routers were placed in schools by teachers which led to radio frequency interference. The Park Hill school district in Missouri decided that the key to BYOD was to upgrade their Cisco Network. This was at a heavy cost; they had to spend 1.3 Million dollars to buy new switches and allowed them to establish 750 access points in their 19 facilities. Brad Sandt the director of technology explained that the network is constantly changing, so planning should be done on continual basis not as a one -time project (Raths, 2012) References
Daccord, T. (2012, September). Five critical mistakes schools make with ipads and how to correct them. Edudemic. Retrieved from http://edudemic.com/2012/09/5-critical-mistakes-schools-ipads-and-
correct-them/
Disadvantages for Students in a BYOD Classroom
Gary Stager is the director of the Constructing Modern Knowledge Institute. His belief is “BYOD is a bad policy that constrains student creativity, limits learning opportunities, and leads to less support for public education in the future” (Lamaster & Stager, 2013, p.1). Stager believes that BYOD creates inequality in the classroom because affluent students will gain an unfair advantage over their classmates with their personal devices. Stager argues that Bring Your Own Devices are so much less powerful than desktop and laptop computers. Students are wasting time on them when they can be engaging with better hardware and software that is geared for education (Lamaster &Stager, 2012). Another disadvantage to BYOD are the distractions that can be created if students use their devices to access inappropriate material without teacher knowledge. Educators have to constantly monitor to make sure students to do not bring inappropriate images, videos, and texts into school. Also, students can download material and apps that could be used to cheat in class (Pfoutz, 2012).
Disadvantages for Educators in a BYOD Classroom
Stager (2013) believes that BYOD increases the anxiety of teachers in their responsibility to monitor students with all different devices. Educators often are not provided adequate professional development for how to implement BYOD. In schools that provide devices for students like iPads, many teachers have no training, but their own personal experience with the device that was just recently given to them. Personal experience with an iPad will not lead to expertise in a work. Research has shown that educators tend to use new technologies to fit into their existing lessons. If educators are not given time to collaborate and learn the benefits of devices, then how can they be expected to use these devices effectively. The devices can differentiate instruction for students, and there are a wide range of apps and web tools that are available for teachers. Unfortunately, without time they may not know of their existence. Educators also need to be given instructions on how devices can be used in the class. Teachers need to know the guidelines that exist for students sharing material through devices, collecting work done on a device, and grading procedures. This can be complicated and time consuming (Daccord, 2012). Educators that plan lessons around BYOD may face many challenges in their lesson. Teachers may have to deal with students forgetting to charge their device, troubleshooting technical problems, and students bringing devices that pose a threat to the overall network (Kartson, 2012).
Disadvantages for School Districts
In an article by David Raths (2012) he researched the impact of Bring Your Own Device movement on school districts in the United States. For his research he interviewed technology coordinators, faculty and staff to determine what the keys to BYOD readiness are. His research took him to Hanover school district in Pennsylvania, Jordan school district in Utah, Park Hill school district in Missouri, and an Episcopal Academy in Florida. In each district Raths wanted to determine how BYOD was implemented and what the results were. Each district had problems and difficulties when first adopting a BYOD policy.
Hanover school district had established wireless access points for laptops in their schools five years before BYOD. When BYOD was implemented into the school district, they quickly realized that they would have to add more access points. The district decided to establish two separate networks one for BYOD wireless devices and one for school devices. The downside is students cannot use their own device to print material since they are not connected to school hardware. In the Jordan School district in Utah, they encountered early problems with BYOD because each school in their 50,000 student district was responsible for establishing their own wireless infrastructure. When BYOD was implemented new wireless routers were placed in schools by teachers which led to radio frequency interference. The Park Hill school district in Missouri decided that the key to BYOD was to upgrade their Cisco Network. This was at a heavy cost; they had to spend 1.3 Million dollars to buy new switches and allowed them to establish 750 access points in their 19 facilities. Brad Sandt the director of technology explained that the network is constantly changing, so planning should be done on continual basis not as a one -time project (Raths, 2012)
References
Daccord, T. (2012, September). Five critical mistakes schools make with ipads and how to correct them.
Edudemic. Retrieved from http://edudemic.com/2012/09/5-critical-mistakes-schools-ipads-and-
correct-them/
Kartson, M. ( 2012, August 28). The benefits and risks of byod in the schools [Web log post]. Retrieved
from http://www.fathomdelivers.com/the-benefits-and-risks-of-byod-in-schools/
LaMaster, J., & Stager, G. S. (2012, February). Should students use their own devices in the
classroom? Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(5), 6. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA279889983&v
=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w
Pfoutz, J. (2012, August 27). Advantages and disadvantages of bring-your-own-device (byod) in
education: Mini white paper [Web log post]. Retrieved from
http://secureconnexion.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-bring-
your-own-device-byod-in-education-mini-whitepaper/
Raths, D. (2012). Are you ready for byod? (cover story). T H E Journal, 39(4), 28-32.